okay well i'm a little stunned by this. i suppose i'm most stunned because i cannot believe that people out there are still entering contracts with termination fee's for tv service (why?!). I thought that sort of thing went out in the late 80's. But then to give some company your debt or checking account number... well, if you do that then you deserve what you get. While you're at it, I have a bridge for sale but first I'll need you to email me your mothers maiden name and your social security number.

It seems to me that the Direct TV customer had a legitimate beef. Why should she have to pay for a service that she had not received as promised by the company. This company advertises clear picture quality..yet this lady did not receive what was advertised.

Concerning the lady who may or may have not signed a contract agreeing to the automatic withdrawal. The point should be that DTV DIDN'T hold up to their end of the contract, by providing a quality reception to her residence. Thus initially voiding the contract first.

I think the real issue is companies that charge early termination fees in general. Do you charge an early termination fee when you give someone a service? The truth is, it's another revenue stream for the companies who are very versed, legally, to deceive and hold unhappy customers into contracts. Why are there early termination fees? Early termination fees are the creation of corporations to create revenue. GOOD service and products will keep retention. Some corporations are by their nature greedy and lazy. They want to offer stripped down service, inferior products, then grab revenues from "quick sources" such as early termination fees, lengthy contracts, short return policy's, CLEAR has a 7 Day return policy, and of course the infamous: RETENTION DEPARTMENTS instead of a real Customer Service Department. Why aren't there bills going to the floor of the House and Senate to protect the consumer from this sort of revenue grabbing?

I HAD THAT SAME PROBLEM TOO. TAKING MY MONEY OUT OF MY CHECKING ACCOUNT. I CALLED THE OWNER OF DIRECT TV AND TOLD HIS SECRETARY THAT THAT WAS AGAINST THE LAW AND PUT MY MONEY BACK. I ALSO WENT TO THE BANK AND SIGNED A FORM SO THEY COULD NO LONGER TAKE ANYTHING OUT OF MY CHECKING ACCOUNT. THAT STOPPED THEM. THE TELL STORIES. THERE WAS NO CONSENT ORAL OR WRITTEN. THEY NEED TO BE STOPPED.

Read what you sign. Yes, DirectTV should have better customer service.

But read what you sign, or don't cry when you find out you don't like the terms. I guarantee this woman signed a contract that stated that DirectTV could and would do exactly this.

I had the same experience. Direct TV is a SCAM. They charged me 300 dollars after I sold my house when the service was transferred to the new owners name. They are a bunch of crooks, Never get Direct TV. I will never use them agaim. Warn everyone you know. The only way to stop them is to get the word out and shut them down.

DirectTV is owned by Rupert Murdock's company in LA. We had a MAJOR problem with them in 2004. They were supposed to have moved our dish from our old house to the new house but never did. We called them to set up the time and the CSR told my spouse that they were busy at the time, but they would call US back to set up the time. They never did. We had to move. We kept getting billed for service we weren't using and couldn't use because the equipment had not been used. I refused to pay for a service that we couldn't receive. Account went ot collections and I kept contesting it. Finally, I called their corp. office in LA. After 2 weeks of a total runaround, I got frustrated and started punching "0" very quickly and FINALLY got up with someone other than a manager in CS. I explained my problem and they FINALLY cleared it up, even tho CS kept telling me I owed the bill. They even had to write a letter clearing my credit up too.

Morale of the story - CALL CORPORATE HQ AND KEEP HITTING "0" UNTIL YOU GET SOMEONE IN AUTHORITY!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite is when you talk to a supervisor CSR about a specific issue, and you do the resposible thing and get their name. Then, when you call back and ask for the same person, the lowly CSR has no idea who you're talking about because you've been routed to a different location and they have no way of looking up anyone from a different place.

Direct TV has been good to me! They screwed up a few times - like when they gave me a used converter box that has some porn or something programmed on the previous owners order history (I am a pastor). Oh yeah, and once they sent 2 "repair men" into my home when my 15-year-old was home alone and they took my box because I threatened to not pay them unless they fixed my HD service.

But they did give me 3 months free movies for my trouble (which good thing thay didnt inform me of it because when I found out by accident that I had a movie channel, I was fliping past Cinemax (more porn!) There were only a couple days left on my free movies by then anyway.

Hmmmm. I wonder how much more time is on my contract?!!

Wow! Looks like there are a lot of DirecTV haters out there. I could say the same about Dish Network who I fired a few years ago after being with them about 15 years and switched to DirecTV.

Service has been great.... rarely in the worst of storm fronts do I lose a signal and only for a few moments.

Just about everyone complaining here allowed auto payment, either Credit/Debit card auto payment or direct-from-checking. That's stupid! They bill me... I pay the bill... period.

Yes, you do have to have extremely good credit before that is an offered option. With me.... I demand it or I go elsewhere... and that includes cell phone companies too! Nobody should EVER agree to ANY auto pay (including utility company even-pay options)... It most always leads to problems. Try electronic banking and submit one-time-only option every month. Your accounts are protected and you still avoid the pony express and save that cost of a stamp!

TCG

I have been a DirecTv customer for quite some time. In fact my account number is in the low 4 digit range. Though I am unable to claim "perfect" service i.e. ocassinal weather issues, I will "speak up" for DirecTv's product in general, and add that on the maybe three times that I have had to call over the years, I have received "Nothing But Exceptional Service" Kudos to you DirecTv...Although I am a little upset about not being able to see my hometown Hockey team play last night!

I've never had satellite t.v. and never will. I have cable (basic only); the only reason is because I live in an apartment. When I buy a house, I'm getting a big t.v. antenna. No cable, no satellite. If I want to see movies, I'll buy or rent them. Same thing with cable series. It's not worth the hassle and outrageous rates/fees. We all gotta watch less boob-tube anyways.

Where is the accountability on this woman? It is her obligation to review what she agrees to. When you say I never signed anything saying they could do that--well, obviously you did. I have an aunt that always has problems like this and she swears that she didnt agree to stuff and in every case so far--she has.

I almost got suckered by DirectTV last month. I called about an offer we saw on TV because I am sick to death of the high prices and crappy service from Comcast. Verizon/FIOS doesn't service my are, so I'm stuck for now. The first rep at Direct offered me something that sounded way too good to be true. $135.00 to sign up for TV, Internet and phone bundled. $99 a month for six months and then $119 a month for 18 months. A two year deal that was much cheaper than Comcast. I said let me call you back after I speak to my husband. I am sure glad I did. The second rep I spoke to said "I'm sorry, but the first rep didn't give you all the information". It was actually going to cost me an additional $199.00 for each receiver and we needed 4. They also wanted access to my checking account. I laughed and said "no, I'll pay the bill when it comes thank you very much". I have never and never will give any company access to my accounts. That would just be plain stupid.

OK... I was a DirecTV CSR and will probably be hunted down for reporting this: we're trained to string you along, folks. TRAINED. Lesson #1: tell you what you want to hear, get you off the phone, and forget about you. I quit that job after 9 weeks: I coundn't stand myself anymore.

I have been a Dish Network TV subscriber for a long time. I have had minor problems now and then with them but in my experience they tend to be somewhat flexible and at times very helpful. It may take forever a day to get to talk someone but the key is like when dealing with any large organization. If you dont get anywhere you have got to keep trying and try to find your way to a person a bit higher than the low level phone answering people. Above all be calm and sound reasonable. The lower tier phone answering people will play games with you if you give them a hard time and you will get no where real fast.

so sad

Worst Customer Service ever!!!!! Always hard to deal with, always a differant story - each time you call in, Always promising something to take care of the current issue you call in on - then never shows up. I finally left after 6 years - said screw NFL sunday ticket (which is the only reason I stayed so long). It has worked out with the Redzone channel being on Verizon and the TV does not go out in a storm!

DirecTV did something similar to us several years ago. We were new customers. We had knowingly signed a 2 year contract. But we had problems with our equipment within those first 2 years. DirecTV was quick to send us new/updated equipment - with the understanding that we had to renew our 2 year contract. Which again, we knowingly signed.

Then the problems started...
DirecTV sent us to a collection agency for more than $300.00 due to "early termination of contract". But we still had DirecTV service, and we were still paying our monthly bill on time.
But that didn't matter, they said we terminated the original term contract prematurely when we got the new equipment. Therefore we were in breach of contract #1, even though we had contract #2.
It was absurd & took a threatened lawsuit from our attorney to finally clear our case. Thankfully it was removed from our credit report within just a few months. But I'm sure there are people out there that would be intimidated by the collection agencies who would have just paid the fee to make it go away.

OMG this has just happened to me with Directv. I had been a customer with them since 2001 and have been complaining about my service from day one. They have been to my house more times than I care to remember moving my dish all over my roof. Well on of the times they moved my dish the service "tech" didn't cover the holes they put in my roof and sure enough about 6 months later we had a leaking roof. It took a while before the water soaked up all the insulation and it finally soiled out ceilings. The damage was over $2500.00 and was the direct fault of D-tv. My homeowners insurance covered my damages and the insurance company went after D-tv and they paid the claim. (imagine that?) Then I continued to have signal problems with my HD/DVR receiver. The HD channels would go out all the time. Even if the wind was blowing the signal would drop. I got sick and tired of it and their lame excuses that I called and tried to cancel my subscription. I got AT&T bundled service and it's WAY cheaper than D-tv!!!! But when I tried to cancel the rep kept trying offering me all kinds of deals even 3 free months with all the movie channels. I was already hooked up with the other company and kept telling her that, but she still tried. Then after all of her trying she finally said ok, but we are going to have to charge you a termination fee of $120.00. She said it was $20.00 a month of what's left on your contract. Well they owed me $149.00 for the month I paid so we'll see if I get the difference back. There were other problems with D-tv, but I'm sure everyone has a horror story about them and other companies. Good luck to the OP, I hope she gets her money back!!

The only thing I can say about DirecTV is TURN and RUN. These people are sinister and evil.

If you are at risk for overdraws, get a bank like BECU that lets you link your Checking and Savings accounts. If you accidentally overdraw your Checking, the extra money just gets withdrawn from your Savings instead without any overdraft fees. They let you withdraw from Savings up to 6 times a month.

So do you think that DirecTV hired all the customer services reps that AOL laid off? Sounds like it to me.

We have been in an era of lessening restrictions and regulations on business since the early 1990s. The pendulum has swung in that direction for two decades or more. Now, with the economic meltdown and the Great Recession, many economists and government watchers are predicting that the regulations will swing the other way for the next two decades. It is a cyclic system.

I had one experience with US Swim and Fitness in the late 1980s with companies that will pull every cent out of your account if you let them. I had to change accounts, and do a lot of stuff, to cancel a health club membership that I couldn't use anymore. And that taught me the hard way to treat my bank numbers like my social security number. I don't give them out. And I never allow automatic withdrawls out of my accounts of any kind. If there is some service or something that I can't get without it, I go without. It is not worth the chaos and headache to trust a company to treat my fairly. I trust no company at all. And never will. An ounce of prevention is worth any amount of cure.

Again here is a problem that arises from people WHO DON'T READ PAPERWORK WHEN THEY SIGN UP FOR A SERVICE. So whose problem is that?

I was a direct tv victim, and it was our own stupidity. Direct tv states that your payment of the first bill is acceptence of your "contract" and they state that on the first bill. I like most people, took the first bill and just paid it. When I canceled the service and was informed of their asinine fee, they explained it to me. I pulled up the first bill and there it was.

Wake up people. We are creating our own problems and playing the blame game still. No wonder why this country is in such dire trouble.

There is a way Mary Cox can argue and possible win. Per the contract DirectTV is obligated to provide Satelite TV service. If the signal is so bad that she couldn't watch then obviously DirectTV is not fulfilling their end of the contract.

I will never use DirecTV again. I signed up for a two year contract. Once the equipment was installed, my service/programming was nothing like what I had signed up for on their advertized special. I spent and hour on the phone with a CSR manager, who said the person I talked to was not authorized to offer that rate. I told the manager that this was an advertized special on the internet. He finally agreed to give me a small discount. They lied to me from day one, and for the remaining two years of my contract. Every month seems like I had to call about what I was billed being wrong--they would after a lot of conversation, reverse the charge, but I wonder how many people just pay the over-billing without calling. BEWARE OF DIRECTV, THEY HAVE NO INTREGRITY!!!

I despise DirectTV...changed my monthly charge 3 times in a 4 month period...I was on automatic payment so it was a lesson learned. Thankfully I work for a huge corporation...too bad for them...and posted my horrific experience on the company employee web site for companies to AVOID. Since we get new employees all the time, I truly feel that I am doing my part by telling them the problems I had with DirectTv and the great service I have with COX and let them come to their own conclusions. I will NEVER subscribe to that type of service, again. I feel like these thieves should be sued out of business.

OK, given the problems with DirecTV, should consumers go to Dish or Comcast? Or are they just as bad?

In general, automatic debit is not a good idea with any company, but particularly personal bank accounts. Once they have your acct number, they have all they need, despite what they say about policies, etc. Policies are not legal documents and don't mean squat.

Most credit card companies will fight for you, but your on your own with personal bank accounts, and once they have your money, it's up to you to get it back - remember, he who has the gold makes the rules.

Most bills come on a monthly cycle, and usually have some sort of grace period. Why give that up for free to risk overdrawn accounts, etc.

I have had very bad customer service experience with DirecTV. They have tried to get me to pay for a service call to fix equipment that they provided that doesn't work.

I quit DirecTV last year after my contract expired. I had been a happy customer for the previous 8 years, but their customer service went downhill. Customer Service reps are ineffective and some are quite rude.
There are two lessons here: don't do business with DirecTV unless you have to and NEVER give anyone access to your checking or savings account. You're powerless once they have their hands on your account...

To Gail St Pierre Crown Point,NY - Don't hold your breath! :(

I could go on for hours about Directv. When I signed up for service thru Qwest/Directv we placed a $200 deposit as we do not have great credit. This was to be refundable first as a $25 a month credit. When I got the first bill, no credit so I called and was told no its $10 month credit. Next month still no credits. Call again now its $5 a month credit. I said wait that will take the deposit beyond the two year agreement and I was told any remaining would be refunded at the time I cancelled. It took a good 6 months before I even started to see a credit on my monthly bills. I was a good customer, bill paid on time every month, for two years, husband works for local cable company so of course we switch when contract is up. I call and the guy says ok cancelled you have a credit for the remaining deposit around $100 and that will be credited to your final bill about $70 and the remaining with be sent to you. Next week, they had taken that final bill out of my checking acct. Call them again and again every time a different story, now its we don't refund deposits and we have no way to issue a refund. Well I would never have just given you all $200 to throw away! The bank took my side and refunded the money. Now I'm fighting it out with their collections.

Direct TV installed my system during the winter when there were no leaves on the trees. In the spring I no longer got a clear signal. They sent a tech out that said the leaves on the trees were my problem. I asked if the installers were aware that trees do get leaves on them. I had no signal so I canceled my service. They charged me $160 early cancel fee and refused to reimburse me even though they couldn't provide the service I signed up for.

Any large consumer based companies will have problems. That doesn't mean its not a problem or that they should not try and help you but that is a fact.

Anytime you authorize any type of automatic withdrawal or credit, you run the risk of having problems. For people who have these issues, then use electronic banking and may payments through your bank manually. Most banks and credit unions have this for free. You can go through, tell them how much to pay and when and they do it. Its faster than writing a check and you don't have to mail anything. But you keep full control. You can even set these things up to automatically make payments for you if you want to go that route. The companies never get access to your accounts. You keep full control. That is what being a smart consumer is about.

That's pretty racist to make fun of someone or distrust them just because of a foreign name that doesn't translate to English!

Direct TV is EVIL :-)
On Nov 26th. My direct TV went out in a snow storm and I called to get it fixed. The CSR rep could not fix it and told me the soonest that I could get it fixed would be on Dec 15th 20 days from the date of issue. I then asked her that because of my long wait would I have to pay the early cancel fee. She stated no. At that point I was under the impression that all was good. I then sent back the receivers that I was suppose to get credit for once received. I have had to call in numerous times to get those credits on the receivers and each time they tell me it all taken care of. I have also been strung along with the early termination fee. I have sent letters, made calls and finally was hug up on by Eric the operation manager in the Boise office in my efforts to get the credit that I was promised. It's not my fault that the CSR did not note the account that she told me that the fee would be waived. It's a clear case of tell what they want to hear so I can get off the phone. If they want to avoid these type of situations then they should train better and not allow the CSR's to tell lies that lead the customer into long time wasted calls, money, letters to the company and personal time. I think this practice is bad for all customers and no one should have to go through what I have gone through.

Directv is AWFUL! When their receiver is defective and they have to order you a new one, they automatically sign you up for another 2 year contract. It is not fair that you have to pay the consequences of their faulty equipment. We have a bad receiver now and are just living with it so we can age out of this stupid contract. We've been there done that. I would swear their DVR receivers are set to crash at the one year mark. I would just cancel, but I can't risk them debiting my debit card for the remainder of the contract. Their customer service is TERRIBLE! The worst I have ever dealt with. When they ran their special where if you got someone to sign up you and that person would get a $50 credit, my mother signed up (this was right after we did so we didn't yet know how terrible they were). It took us 10 months of arguing with customer service and being told every single time that it would be resolved and it never was. We finally got our credit, then were supposed to get additional credits for our time and of course, never saw those. Directv is a bunch of crooks and I would love to see a class action suit take them down.

Note: Direct TV is also the same people who bring you the other leading TV company. you thought they were competittors I know but they are not they are owned by the same people. So its a bigger hold on the market than you think so when you switch its still them making the money.

I can tell you people this much Dish Network is just as bad. With Dish Network, soon as you drop Dish Network's home protection plan, you get trouble out the rear, and then they blame everything, including tree's for the trouble.

Within the past couple of years, my Dad had DirecTV, after dumping Dish Network and Dish Networks trouble. Guess what DirecTV turned out to be as bad as Dishnetwork, including excuses from DirecTV, such as DirecTV, supposedly not having the money to add the local channels to the DirecTV system, where I live. During this time, my Dad wound up in the hospital for close to a week, guess what, DirecTV decided to cut off the service, and would restore the service when my Dad went to pay the bill.

After this mess, he switched to cable and hasn't looked back.

This is to Tammy in Wyoming, what DirecTV did with claiming your son signed a contract authorizing that, when in fact he didn't, is consumer fraud. In North Dakota, you would be able to file a consumer fraud complaint form with the Attorney General's Office. I would contact the Wyoming Attorney General's Office, and see if you can file a consumer fraud complaint against DirecTV.

In my own experience with DirecTV, the 2-year contract extension in effect became a much longer extension. After our move, we had problems with the reciever and had to have it replaced four times. We continued to have problems and had to have a technician come out. Our statement that month included a service fee of $50.00 for the service call - the first time I had ever been charged since I first signed up with PrimeStar some 20 years ago. When I called to dispute the charge, I was told that they would dismiss the charge this time, that any future calls would be charged or that I could sign up for a service agreement at additional monthly charge. By then I was pretty fed up with DirecTV and asked about terminating my contract and was informed that there would be any early termination fee of 450.00. I had already had the service at the new address for sometime, so I was surprised that it was so high. Further investigation revealed that not only had my contracted extended when I moved, but that DirecTV bases the term of the contract not on the date service starts, but on the date a receiver is delivered. Each time they replaced a faulty receiver, my contract was extended.

The exact same thing happened to us after I sent them a certified letter warning them not to try automatically deducting anything from any account. We couldn't keep the service since the house was destroyed by Hurricane Gustav. I have turned this over to the District Attorney where DirecTV is located, the BBB, and my local DA's office.

I was handed a card by a woman in her early 20's at an airport it said I am handicaped can't read or hear or speak and it ask kindly for a donation so I handed this pretty lil gal a few bucks and then she replys Thanks alot mister this will buy my lunch today, I said wait a second the card says you cant read write or speak whats going on! She replys turn the card over so I did . all it said was do not be an ASS and whine get your dime like I got mine. This wends the lesson did you get it?

DirectTV called up my Dad and told him that they would install all the equipment for free if he would try out their service for a month, no obligation, no commitment.
28 days latter my Dad called them and said he wanted to cancel their service as Time Warner Cable didn't go out during electric storms. DirectTV insisted he pay them $200 for the instalation of their equipment. After arguing with them for over a month they sent his "bill" to collections.

Sounds like Direct tv is following Sprint & other cell phone company's with these stupid 2 year contracts you sign on the line & they don't have to do a dam thing! When their product does not work they are not motivated to fix it! This way of doing business should be illegal! If you pay for something it should work as promised or advertised if it does not then the deal is off! Simple as that!

What do you expect? Banks have perpetrated the largest unpunished scam in this country's history. That's why it it's no surprise to hear that they are cooperatively stealing on behalf of companies who have about as much integrity as they do.

I have also had a terrible time with Direct-Tv. In Chicago they PROMISED that I would be able to receive all my local channels. OUTRIGHT LIE. I wound up haveing to go to a public place to watch my team in the playoffs. Absolutely digusting buisiness practices by D-TV. I told them where they could stick their service (to use the term VERY loosely)after a few threats from them about how they would just bill my acct if I did not pay up I changed my acct number and told them to go ahead and try meantime I would be sueing them for the trouble they were causeing. It was the last time I heard from them regarding this however they continually send me advertisements which I return in their postage paid envelope, along with everything else I can find from all the other junk mailers. I STUFF their envelope to cost them as much postage as possible. I also mark on all their info so they can not simply send it to others. Screw them, they are crooks in every sense of the word.

Hope the courts get Mary back her money. Not just for the amount she lost through her bank account, but for all her time and stress that came with it. THEY broke the contract first by failing to provide the service THEY promised HER!

I know DirecTv does this because they did it to me. My ex-husband tried to take over my account after we split up. I stopped that but had a discontinue service charge, since my "contract" wasn't up. I had moved out of state a year earlier. They took the money from my account without authorization. Talking to them got me nowhere. So I contacted my bank (Bank of America) and told them the withdrawal was NOT authorized. They refunded my money and investigated. They denied DirecTv the money and DirecTv started billing me. I guess I was lucky that I got all my money back. They should know that they can't take money from an account without authorization. That is why I monitor my accounts daily. I thought it only happened to me. I'm sorry it happened to other people too.

When is this author ever going to realize that we as consumers need to be savvy and in the know. Anyone who continues to find themselves entrapped by their own stupidity and ignorance when it comes to dealing with life is only a victim of their own doing.

Here is a refreshing article from Newsweek if you like I are frustrated with Mr. Sullivan's endless apathetic mopiness:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/216568

Which is why I almost NEVER use a debit card. Recently, I got an oil change and paid for it with a CC. Imagine my surprise when a charge for almost $3000.00, from the service center, appeared on my CC statement. It all got fixed, but can you imagine how much more difficult the situation would have been if I had used a debit card.

It appears mary Cox is not alone. About a year ago I signed up with Dish Network and the service was great for about 3 months. Then one of the local channels' parent company (Fisher Communications) got into a contract renegotiation with Dish, which resulted in a service interruption for that channel (CBS affiliate). After repeated calls, emails, and voice messages, I was told by Dish: "Sorry - it is in the fine print of what you signed...!" I quickly moved to an immediate disconnection and I knew they would charge me for the early termination fee (also several hundred dollars), it was a matter of principle for me. Then, of course, I got slapped with another termination fee from the local installer (Big Dog)!
It was not too long after I arranged service with a competitor that I found out Dish could have simply programmed my account to receive a different CBS feed (from a different city) so I could continue to get my favorite shows. The customer rep, who shall remain nameless (they refuse to give out their name or connect me with a supervisor), could have save the day but chose not to. Even if all other TV carriers were to fall off the face of the earth and Dish was the only one left, I would not sign up ever again with them - I'll go internet TV before I do that.
I guess the question is: do they really know or care? or is the business so good that they feel entitled to treat their customers like dirt? Is there no recourse for the consumer other than long and expensive legal battles?

Not all Credit Cards are Crated equal in respect with handling Disputes. I have an AMEX card and they are fantastic with any disputes I have with one time purchases or monthly reoccurring charges. I have had vendors just give in immediately when I tell them I will dispute the charges with AMEX, the vendors sing a whole different tune. AMEX is expensive to have, $150 a year for the Gold card, but the return I get on it is well worth the cost.

Why I will NEVER have Direct TV. The apartment I live in only has Direct TV, and I would rather go without. Instead, I subsribe to Netflix and hook my computer up to my TV. I go without all those great channels because it's not fair that I don't have a choice. I'm not even signed up in a lease with my apartments for 24 months. I hope this woman gets all her money back. Direct TV should also reimburse her for her bank fees...

I ran into a similar situation with DTV after cancelling my service. I got a statement with a due date and they billed 2 1/2 weeks ahead of time. My account was overdrawn and added $100.00 of unecesary fees. DTV laughed and said theres nothing they can do as it is on the agreement. I had the money to pay them if they would have waited two days for my deposit. Or if they would have given me notice they were going to bill my account. Can anyone send me information on how I can be part of this class action lawsuit?

The problem I had was that we were sent a letter in June stating that they had to do a upgrade to the satilite dish in our area or we would no longer recieve local channels. After they came and did this I receive the letter saying welcome to Directv like you are a new customer. Well when the people who were renting from us moved out in August and I no longer need the Directv I was charged for the "early Termination Fee" even though I have been a customer since 2004. I called and requested that they should reimbuse the charge,Because I did not ASK to have the upgrade done in the first place. They said that they will credit back the charge. It will take 6 to 8 weeks......This was on Monday so I'll have to wait and see if this will happen.

I'm constantly puzzled by the lack of accoutablity of these service providers. As consumers we're obligated to pay our bills but why aren't they obligated to provide an acceptable service? If her reception was poor, Direct TV should have made it right. If they couldn't (which sounds like the case) they are essentially in breach of contract too. Logic would indicate that it should have been a "wash" between the consumer and provider and they should have had an amicable separation.

When an internet service provider made a withdrawal from my Washington Mutual account several years ago, I was told by the teller that even if I directed them not to allow that company to direct withdraw any longer, it would probably still happen and I would have no recourse. The solution at that time was to close the original account and open another and I was able to allow the couple of outstanding legitimate charges to be withdrawn from the new account (the ISP tried to charge me again and then bill me, but without access to my bank account, they honored the cancellation and went away when threatened with legal action for charging me after cancellation). I don't know if this is still an option with Chase and this was a free checking account, but the solution worked.

There used to be a "policy" or "requirement" that any such checking or debit withdrawal from an account be accomopanied by a "prenotification" to the customer. Unfortunately, the prenotification requirement never envisioned a "fine-print", boilerplate type line item that was buried in a long aggrement or webpage.

A solution that would remedy many of these situations before they become problems and at the same time preserve the vendor's functionality of withdrawal would require that the customer receive a clear prenotification of a pending "hit" on their account no less than three days prior but no more than ten days prior to the actual transaction date. That prenotification caan be by first class mail or email, if the customer has affirmatively requested email as the preferred prenotification method.

Eliminating the element of surprise from the transaction gives the customer time to react, to correct, or make account adjustments to "cover" the debit and avoid unintended "bounce fees". In addition it still preserves the vendor's ability to initiate an authorized debit.

It's a simple, low cost solution. The only objection would be from a vendor who is relying on the "element of surprise" to grab money from an unsuspecting customer. That vendor should be barred from electronic transactions of any kind as a penelty for one year per infraction plus a $10,000 fine payable to the injurred party.

I think this is called carrot and stick??

There are so many problems with DirecTV's behavior here, it will take too much time to discuss them all, so I'll just tackle one:

The early termination fee should be illegal (it is definitely immoral) if DirecTV can't provide a decent signal. If the signal was definitely bad, none of this should have happened. DirecTV should reimburse her for all expenses and clean up any credit record issues that show up due to this fiasco.

Thats tough & rough. It's amazing that companies like that will try to get every last drop out of you. What I do is a pay/play plan. That way it keeps you responsible for sending the money to the company and it gets renewed at the end of the monthly agreement. Of course, you don't see much of that anymore. It's usually too expensive. Do some better "shopping" for good services or, well, read a book.

IM IN THE SAME BOAT!!!! DIRECT TV CHARGED MY DEBIT CARD $944.71 FOR MY SONS BILL! AND NEVER NOTIFIED ME IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM! IM STILL FIGHTING WITH THEM AND THE BANK TO GET THIS STRAIGHTENED OUT.THEY SAID MY SON SIGHNED A CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZED THEM TO USE MY CARD AND HE NEVER SIGHNED ANYTHING. IF THERE IS A WAY TO HELP ME PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

Last December I scheduled to have an upgrade to my DirecTV account and when the tech. came to my house, he said my roof was too icy. No problem, I said I would reschedule. I received 3-4 phone calls from DirecTV to reschedule but I said I would call them. Come on, it's still December and icy!!! Two weeks later my credit card bill came in and they billed me $179 for the services they never provided! It took me 3 months of phone calls after phone calls before they finally reimbursed me that money (not including the finance charges). I still haven't bothered with my ugrade and doubt I will. How can a company bill you for services they haven't provided yet?

We had the same type of thing happen to us with Driect TV. We signed up by phone and gave them our debit card number. All equipment was supposed to be free, no shipping and no installation. We were charged over $300 for shipping, equipment and installation. Our wall in our living area was badly damaged during installation. When we saw all of the charges on our account, we cancelled our service and notified the bank. Fortunately, our bank reversed the charges but Direct sent our account to collections and reported us to the credit bureaus. They said we had a 2 year contract with them. We agreed to no contract and did not sign anything. They harrassed us for months at work and at home. Something needs to be done about this company ripping people off.

They are not the only company that do that. My morgage company took 2x the morgage paymnet out. Now, all my bills are payed with money order.

They are not the only company that do that. My morgage company took 2x the morgage paymnet out. Now, all my bills are payed with money order.

what people need to understand, is that direct tv, and all the others are bound by the contract with the customer, just as we are bound by it. you pay for the service, they have to provide you with what you pay for., if you get crappy reception and they cant fix it, then the contract is null and void.

this exact thing happened to me 6 years ago, plagued by problems they couldnt remedy, i cancelled, they tried to charge me, (and they turned me into collections exactly 38 days before the final bill was even due). i responded by contacing the better business bureau, and 2 weeks later direct tv ended up paying me . its a two way street on contracts people . remember that

It used to be money was paid for services rendered. there was a time when companies actually did have to render a service. When did contracts replace the need to provide this woman with something she actually wanted?

this is so believeable,,I mades sure when I cancelled direct tv my contract was up. bill was "0"..I return the boxes timely, well then I get a bill for 90 bucks, they tell me after receiving the boxes they could tell someone tried to watch some pay for view channels and I never was charged..I am like what??...they would not budge, I had no negotiable tool because I had cancelled, I am sure if I would have said I will sign back up...the charge would have been wiped off...I paid becuz I did not want any negative marks on my credit report...Now every week I get mail about signing up for Direct..NEVER!!..Comcast works my nerves, but after cancelling w/them I never received any additional charges..I went back to comcast I will never do Direttv again..

The same thing happened with me dealing with Dish Network. I wanted to cancel my service and they talked me into suspending my service for $9 a month...10 months later I decided to fully cancel and I was notified that my service was reinstated after 6 months (without notification) and they started withdrawing payments from my account without authorization. My fault by not watching my account...by the time I realized what was going on they had withdrawn over $400. I had no luck whatsoever getting my money back.

mrs.cox i also did the same as you with directv. i live in alabama.directvs ad looked good but was very lucky,after about two solid weeks on the phone begging to be let out the contract,i finally got hold of one rep. that had fellings and got out of the contract.they waivered early cancellation fee of 460.00 dollars,but still took 105.58 out of my debit card without my consent, they said it would take 6 to 8 weeks to return that money to my account.they said that that money was a deposit on the equipment and also charged me a months billing fee in advance,so i made 2 months bill and did not have their services but for 28 days. i know and fell what you have and are still going though. i wished everyone could read what we have had to go though.i made a complaint to the consumers affairs in my state about the way they do people. good luck |

All the companies have the power. If a consumer has a problem with the company, they have to go as far as hiring an attorney and taking it to court to get resolved. These companies would never agree to provide service if they didn't retain the right to change the terms at any time for any reason. It is all a form of loansharking. Up, Up, and Up on the conditions until the consumer is under, under, and under.

direct tv - worst offender..their ads are fraud.
dont disclose the small print..i tried to get the
service.. worst experience to deal with them.
out of frustration,never got the service and the
'customer service' morans are robots- cant help.
nothing we can do.. you agreed - you signed it..

cost me $85.00 to purchase an antenna and it works
well.

Seems like the easiest thing to do is to never do business with direct TV. That's easy enough. Thanks for the report. I'm convinced.

What a nightmare for this lady, and it may NOT be over. Her credit report may be damaged. I've learned this...NEVER GIVE OUT A BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER. Also, read the fine print. There are many times some info that the consumer is NOT made aware of. Caveat Emptor

This nightmare sounds very similar to several customer service issues we have had in Spain. Although, I don't wish this type of nightmarish service on anyone, I have to admit that it actually was heartening for me to read this account. It made me realize that we aren't alone...this type of irresponsible corporate behavior goes on all over the world!

Consumer Reports gave this outfit a pretty good rating a while back. It's why I declined to continue my Consumer Reports subscription.

Never sign up for "direct withdrawal" in a situation where you cannot predict the dollar amount. My hometown has electronic passes for the highway tolls, and the accounts are set up to draft from your checking account every month. This is pure risk, since you do not know the total they will draft, and you can hardly dispute their claims (who could PROVE how many times they crossed a bridge?). Direct draft from checking only makes sense for thing like mortgage payments, where the dollar amount is consistent and you are in a very long-term relationship with the company.

Besides the fact that DirecTV shouldn't be allowed to automatically withdraw money during a dispute, they are a despicable company. I understand they need to have a two year commitment in order to have a chance at making a profit, but they regularly extend these contracts every time you make a change to your account, even something as simple as adding or removing HBO. So that each time you make a change you start your two years over without knowledge of this until you attempt to cancel your service. Avoid this company at all costs.

This is excactly what happened to me a month ago, resulting in $300 in overdraft fees. Direct TV is the worst company i have ever dealt with. i hope more people speak out about this and somebody does something about it.

WOW I JUST KEEP READING THE ARTICLE AND AM SHOCKED THAT THIS HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO BE CARRIED ON....... WHERE IS THE GOVERMENT ON COMPANIES LIKE THIS???? WHERE IS THE BETTER BUSINESS PEOPLE.. I WILL TELL YOU WITH THEIR THUMBS IN THEIR RUMPS!!! GET PISSED PEOPLE COMPANIES LIKE THIS GET RICH OFF OF STUPID PEOPLE LIKE US.....

This is almost the exact same situation im in. I wrote the Arizon attorney general, but Direct Tv still said to bad. The customer service for Direct TV is absultly the worst I have ever experianced with any customer service provider.

DIRECT TV IS A SCAM!!!!! I ORDERED DIRECT TV FOR THE FOOTBALL SEASON PEOPLE.. GET THIS... I PAID A HUGE FEE TO HAVE THE SEASON AND GAMES AT OUR FINGERTIPS AND WHEN OUR TEAM CAME ON {STEELERS} IT WAS BLACKED OUT... HAHAHAHAH ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? I WAS TOLD I ALREADY PAID FOR IT AND STUFF HAPPENS..... THEN THEY HARASSED ME AND TRIED TO EXTORT MONEY FROM ME!!!! WHAT A BUNCH OF CON ARTIST!! NOT ONLY DID THEY ROB ME THEY INSTALLED THE DIRECT TV CRAP EQUIPMENT AND RUINED THE OUTSIDE OF MY HOUSE.... BOYCOTT THESE MORONS!!!!!!!! THEY ARE STILL TAKING MONEY OUT OF A UNAUTHORIZED ACCOUNT.... WE NEVER TOLD THEM THEY COULD.... TO THINK THAT COMPANIES CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT AND THE GOVERMENT JUST SITS BACK AND SAYS WE WILL LOOK INTO IT... NOW IF THIS WAS YOUR COMMON HOUSE INVADER OR STREET THUG THEY WOULD BE LOCKED UP.. WHY DO WE PAY THESE MORONS IN THE GOVERMENT WHEN ALL THEY DO IS SIT BACK AND WATCH PEOPLE GET ROBBED AND WATCH TIME PASS??? I HATE STUPID PEOPLE////

I also had a nightmare with DirecTV over an early cancellation fee. Their claim that they do not charge these fees without the customer's authorization is completely not true. I cancelled my service after losing my job and was informed that I would have a $180 cancellation. I agreed to the $120 amount even though I think it is unconscionable to charge these fees to people who are trying to be responsible and not be put in a postion of not being able to pay my bill so cancelling the service instead. Imagine my surprise when my credit card was charged $300 instead of $120. I called and was polite but insistent. I was able to speak with one supervisor who told me my claim needed to be handled by a division of the company that did not take phone calls. This supervisor promised to review my claim, be sure it got to the right people and to follow up with me by phone. None of that happened. My second call to a supervisor got me an explanation that I was charged the extra amount because I had upgraded my service. I had NOT upgraded any service DirecTV had replaced a DVR that was not working properly, but it was not an upgrade. I was finally given another number to call to explain my plight to a third department, located in a different state to have them clear my account of the incorrect information regarding the upgrade. Then after they finally agreed to refund my money it took them 8 WEEKS to credit my charge card. I love sports and their coverage is the best but I will NEVER deal with this company again.

DirecTV is crooked. Every little dime they can steal they will. Don't sign up for NFL sunday ticket. You can never get off. They kept putting me back on the auto-renewal. I cancelled HBO and they turned it off but continued to charge for it for 2 months before I noticed. Then they offered me a 5 dollar credit. woop de do. Don't put your credit card information on their site. You can't take it off. And if you cancel they take away your access and still bill your credit card. Been on Dish for two months now. Much happier with them.

I am dealing with the exact same thing with HughesNet since May of this year. BUT we did not give them any information, their installer got into my husband's wallet & took his debit card information as we were dealing with isntallers for a multiplicity of services that day. They have illegally accessed our checking account with all kinds of fees, each time running $200-$400. Putting a block on the account didn't help the first two months because the company pushed it through as "preauthorized debit charge". Our bank has reissued us the money after months of investigating and HughesNet not responding but it's already been turned against our credit which we have strived to keep near perfect, it now has this ugly mark on it. Despite my endless efforts of dealing with what I call "idiots" and files of paperwork, phone records, etc...no one seems able to help or willing and I am told that HughesNet has the right to turn this on our credit. How can they get away with this?

direct tv calls all the time.
climing to give more fore less.
i just tell them i have 2 hd dvr boxes and 4 hd boxes because 2 living rooms and 4 bedrooms with 4 movie channels internet and unlimited phone thru the cable co. they are 120 more expensive (also no phone)and limit the boxes to 1 hd dvr and 3 hd boxes so why would i switch?
which living room dont get the dvr and which 2 out of 3 kids dont get tv in their room? also we like to watch tv when its raining out side. try that with direct tv.
my neighbor across the street has it just because the nfl package and totaly hates it.
yep its nice to watch static and snow in hd when its raining. its soooo clear and life like.

This article just saved Timewarner a customer, NO DIRECTTV for me.

I use direct withdrawal for some of my bills and have had no problems (so far - knock on wood!). I use it for my electric, gas, phone, and monthly charitable contribution, and used it for my mortgage until I paid it off. It's nice not having to worry about writing checks or being late with payments. However, I am careful about it. My condo assn wants my account to direct-withdraw my condo fee, but the form basically just gives them authority to withdraw money from the account, and that's it. Sounds to me like they would have carte blanche to take whatever they want, so I won't agree to that. I was tempted on my credit card, because I do occasionally miss the deadline by a day or two and those late fees are expensive, but when I read the fine print, there was a clause that stated that if they took the wrong amount, I could not hold them liable, so that was that. I think that if you are careful, direct withdrawal can be a convenient option.

I had a similar issue with Earthlink (a Sprint Company) a few years back. I had a direct billing for the account, but switched to a cable provider (Earthlink was Dial-Up). I called after the service was set up with the cable company and canceled Earthlink. To make a long story short, every month they would still bill me for the service even though it had been shut off. Each time I called in, they would say the account is closed and I wouldnt be billed any further. After 4 months, I closed the account and opened another. It even went to collections. Finally I got someone to review when the account was closed (by this time 7 months before with zero activity in all that time) and when their billing department billed me for usage (the entire 7 months.) They agreed to drop that which was not paid (3 months of time) but never would give me my money back for the 4 months they had "stole". My learning was to never allow a company to auto bill me (and have never had a problem since.)

This same thing has happened to so many of my friends that I am surprised this company (or lack there of) is still in business. Why can't someone (goverment) have these folks shutdown?

This is what it has come to these days! Technology, computers, websites, are all supposed to make life easy on all of us now days. Today's technology is supposed to make it easier to do business with companies and banks, and make transactions and payments faster and more convenient. NOT TRUE AT ALL! When it comes to automatic bill pay, online banking, enrolling in online bill pay with your bank, or having the companies you do business with allow you to sign up for automatic payments, these are not a good thing any longer because these so called convenient services are exactly what is causing errors WITH banking customers, and i think the banks love these services because they profit from your mistakes. These types of services are what the banks are counting on to collect their some $48 billion dollars in NSF fees per year, an all time record. IF YOU ARE LIVING PAY CHECK TO PAY CHECK, AND IF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT HAS DAILY BALANCES OF LIKE $300-500, STAY AWAY FROM AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS WITH THE UTILITY, PHONE, AND CABLE COMPANIES AND STAY AWAY FROM ENROLLING IN BILL PAY SERVICES WITH THE BANKS. Today, I am scared to death if my bank account drops below $500 because the banking system and their online software is designed in a way to pay or not pay certain transactions ONLY to generate NSF fees that the bank is counting on so they can pay the top executives and their shareholders their million dollar Christmas bonuses this year. Bank of America just paid their CEO a $25 million dollar bonus for retiring after 8 years! Where do you think they got that $25 million dollars? That is about 714,000 NSF fees collected from about 119,000 banking customers who got hit with an average of 6 NSF fees per customer for the year!

Just a warning to the point that credit cards have superior leverage. In two instances, I disputed a claim with my Citibank Mastercard. They gave me a temporary credit, but were unhappy with my backup documentation, and ultimately sided with the vendors (one was a gym that I cancelled, the other was an online vendor that sent a substandard quality product). Maybe I didn't send the right things, but still they weren't helpful to me.

We had a similar nightmare with DirectTV. My husband wanted to watch Atlanta Braves baseball on TV (we live in Orlando, FL). He researched for the best options, and based on the information he received from DirectTV, they were it. Once they installed the system, it turned out that he couldn't see the games AT ALL because we live "in the wrong zipcode". Excuse me? Isn't this service coming from a SATELLITE?????

He cancelled the service immediately (less than one day after installation). Although their customer-no-service person told him that their policy for refunds was "cancellation within 24 hours", they still charged our credit card a $530 early cancellation fee. We disputed the charge, to no avail (thanks, Citibank). We got a lawyer friend to send demand letters for six months. To no avail.

Our lawyer friend suggested that a Class Action Lawsuit was in order, to which we heartily agreed! Before we could get it started they refunded the money. We were so disappointed! We really were ready for some DirecTV BLOOD. I'm glad the folks in California are suing them. I hope they win MILLIONS.

"That's something they don't tell you in those commercials," she said. "I didn't sign anything agreeing to that."

yeah, right.

Yeah, fine print sucks. Maybe she should have taken the time to read it. It's a gotcha situation, but consumers needs to be savvy. When I get into funky spots like service interruption, I call immediately [and daily] and ask for rebates based on how long the outtage is for. I've always gotten my money back and I've always gotten quick service as a result.

Something has gone seriously wrong at DirecTV, as these stories are quickly becoming widespread. And they are worthy of a class-action lawsuit.

I also have DirecTV and was shocked to find out that everytime you require service (even though it is their fault), they extend your contract another two years. It seems to me that should be illegal. I went with DirecTV because they offered a football package that wasn't available through anyone else, but now I am rethinking that decision. I am seriously considering complaining to the RI Utilities Commission since this practice does not seem fair. They know they have you and they are not the least bit customer service oriented.

Seems to me that if Mary could have gotten signal she probably would have kept her DirecTV. I've heard of this before where DirecTV signs you up and locks you in then if you can't get signal or your dish is put up in the fall when the trees are bare then lose signal in the spring when the leaves come back, you still owe a cancellation fee. Seems simple to me, no service NO PAY...